Matching Prime force action:

1
Are Concrete and Abstract Sentences Understood in
Terms of Underlying Force Patterns? Carol J.
Madden and Diane Pecher - Erasmus University
Rotterdam
Abstract Two experiments test the idea that we
understand concrete sentences like The bulldozer
pushed the dirt across the lot and abstract
sentences like Jenny convinced her husband to
confess by representing their underlying force
patterns and relating them to our own physical
and psychosocial experiences. In the first
experiment, abstract and concrete event
descriptions were preceded by event descriptions
with matching or mismatching patterns of forces.
In the second experiment, abstract and concrete
event descriptions were preceded by animations of
events (two shapes interacting) with matching or
mismatching patterns of forces. The results
suggest that our understanding of concrete and
abstract events incorporate their underlying
force patterns (Talmy, 1988). These results also
provide a possible account for how abstract
sentences might be represented.
Experiment 1 Participants made sensibility
judgments on concrete and abstract sentences.
These sentences were primed by concrete sentences
that could have the same or different force
patterns.
Experiment 1 - Sentences of same force type
facilitate subsequent abstract sentence
comprehensionRT Errors
Matching Prime (force action) The boy pulled on
the rope to make the tower bell ring. Mismatching
Prime (allow rest) The branches stopped swaying
when the storm passed. Concrete Target (force
action) The girl shot the basketball into the
hoop. Abstract Target (force action) The boy
confessed when his mother glared at him.
or
or
Experiment 2 It is possible that structural
similarity between prime and target sentences was
responsible for the effect. Therefore, in Exp 2
participants again read sentences and made
sensibility judgments, but sentences were now
primed by short animations that could have the
same or different force patterns.
Experiment 2 - Animations of same force type
facilitate subsequent abstract and concrete
sentence comprehensionRT Errors
Force Dynamics According to Talmys (1998) theory
of force dynamics, events can be broken down into
their component agents or entities and the
interacting pattern of forces between them. In
the current set of experiments, we are interested
in events with the following 4 basic force
patterns Force Action An agonist is
predisposed to stay at rest, but a stronger
antagonist forces action Force rest An agonist
is predisposed to act, but a stronger antagonist
forces rest Allow Action An agonist is
predisposed to act, and a stronger, blocking
antagonist is removed Allow rest An agonist is
predisposed to rest, and a stronger,
action-forcing antagonist is removed
Matching Prime (force action) Mismatching Prime
(force rest) Concrete Target (force
action) The girl shot the basketball into the
hoop. Abstract Target (force action) The boy
confessed when his mother glared at him.
or
or
Conclusions Simulations of event descriptions may
incorporate underlying force patterns (although
not all sentences are event descriptions). This
provides a possible account of how abstract
sentences are represented. Psychosocial forces
may be grounded in our experiences of physical
forces.
For both experiments, nonsense filler sentences
requiring no responses were also presented for
example, The farmer stopped harvesting when the
pigs hammered the dresses.
This research was supported by a Vidi grant to
Dr. Diane Pecher from the Netherlands
Organization for Scientific Research.